Search form

January 2012 Rocket Ship Ska Trip Archives

1/12 in a nutshell…
I just can’t do my customary 3rd/2nd/1st-hr. recap this week, ‘cuz THEEBIGG highlight this week was in the Opening Oldies Hour (the Ooh) when we played Name That Ska! What Was That Ska Named?, I hear you asking… well how ‘bout Shirley… that’s right, Shirley! …and Maureen, Zella, Lulu and Isabell, to boot. Heck, even Tom, Dick & Harry make an appearance. Between ‘em, they’ve got the whole world doing the Ska! And who better to clear out the room at the end of the hour than Baby Face Nelson? Accompanied by Prince Buster, of course… and good thing, too, ‘cuz here comes Sherwood with Reptilicus, no, Birthe Wilke in tow… and also dropping a choice selection from the longest-titled album in the HISTORY of… Dr. Buzzard’s Original Savannah Band. Alas, Sherwood must then break the news that one of his favorite bands, Tokyo Jihen (or Tokyo Incidents or Incidents Tokyo, take your pick) are splitting. Last gig’s gonna be right on Leap Day, and in 16 years, they’ll be marking the 4th anniversary of the breakup… unless they’ve put it back together before then (hey, hope springs eternal!) Anyway, you’ll hear a track from (the forthcoming?) Color Bars 5-track mini. Mutant Frogs did the 4@4, a band called Akatz had the Lollipop, and a companion piece (involving a Butterfly) was provided by someone named Annamarie. No last name given, which was odd for 1964! Si & The Dualers warned us about Jack Frost, and Gina Gina took skiing lessons again. At least she won’t have to worry about the fake snow melting!

1/5 in a nutshell…
Ska ‘n’ Toasting make up the 4(+1)@4, including a very early example of the art of chatting ‘pon a boogie/ska beat from as far back as 1962! That’s on the Trojan Battlefield anthology of early Theo Beckford productions, and the track is Karl Walker’s But Officer. It’s Laura Lee this week as GotchaSKAvered brings back the Lollipop. Lou & the Hollywood Bananas’ Kingston Kingston, from 1978 (and a hit in France), is a song from what I’ve taken to thinking of as Ska’s Lost Decade (the ’70s, pre-2Tone, ‘though certainly Prince Buster’s 1969 hot-on-the-heels Ob-La-Di cover certainly belongs here as well), and when I finally unearth an hour’s worth of lost decade ska, it’ll get on the Ooh right here on the RSST in one go! And speaking of the Opening Oldies Hour, I got to play something I was previously unaware of, that being Boof Ska by some outfit called Tony Washington & the D.C.‘s on an Island 45 (groovy side, that!)… part of the joy of doing the RSST is being able to bring you cool stuff I only found out about yesterday, and I’m thinking of inaugurating a DiSKAvery feature, just ‘cuz after 13 years of doing this, I’m constantly Wow What’s This-ing at stuff I find on You Tube. Stay tuned… and tune into the archives at kfai.org to hear what Funn Sherwood had, including hearing Knuckles O’Toole go South Of The Border!

In which we get Ringrolled! Also, Giuliano Palma comes In From The Cold while The Pietasters stay Out All Night. The Miceteeth are in a Meeting with gigantic (and presumably radioactive) ants, and some outfit called Qypthone don’t cover Marley, but Teresa Brewer does cover Millie! And leading up to all that, you ask?
Cool 4(+1)-in-a-row this week__ This Are Post-2Tone!
Starring the original Selecter having just bailed and going direct-to-Chrysalis, the Dammers-less Specials of the ’90s (on MCA), the always Buster-ful Bad Manners (on a Fatty-helmed Blue Beat, and later Moon), and Madness undercover as a cover band (The Dangermen)! In the Voov, Sherwood unearths tracks from a 3rd Tipsy album he’d never heard of before (Buzzz on Ipecac) and drops some interesting 45s into his set, and (ooh!) a well-rounded hour of first- and second-generation ska is bookended by King Desmond at the start and Morgan the Hoople at the finish. Inbetween… well, hear it for yourself!

1/26 in a nutshell…
Skeatles! Ska Beatles covers by ARTS, Ringo Ska, The Brass Circus and the Clarendonians made up the 4(+1)-in-a-row, followed by the GotchaSKAllipop, this time by a Swedish outfit called Flamingo Kvintetten, with their 1970 take Lilla Raringen… SvenSKA, indeed! Sherwood dropped another Buzzz cut by Tipsy into his mix, and made time flow slowly with substantial help from Serani Poji. Dave Pike had the feelin’ with Spooky, and … oooooh, how Blue is that Beat at the top of the Opening Oldies Hour? We get three answers… from Chris Farlowe, Rita Hovink, and Joe Meek’s Tornados, in that order!